Lady Ghostbusters won’t actually ruin your childhood

Good evening, readers. And people who happened to click a link to this post while trying to scroll on smart phones, tablets, and other touchscreen devices designed for such misclicks. Welcome to the first of undoubtedly many Throwdown Thursdays, which is a thing I came up with instead of making Throwback Thursday happen on my blog. I avoid posting old pictures of myself because they’ve been known to cause irreversible blindness, but if I were into that sort of thing I would post them on whatever day of the damn week I want.

The purpose of Throwdown Thursday posts is to pick a topic–preferably a relatively relevant one–and…basically rant a bit. I can’t justify dolling up the point of these posts when they’re actually just therapeutic venting with a chance someone else might read it.

I’ll admit that I was really torn on tonight’s subject. Commenting on how people being shocked by snow in January is actually the most shocking part of winter was a close front-runner. That changed when I saw the reactions to the cast reveal for the Ghostbusters reboot. It’s like someone filled a garbage bag with highly concentrated crazy, held it over the Internet, and tore it open in response to the news of who would be the leading ladies of this brave new version of a Hollywood treasure. Before I even dare leap into the bulk of me losing my mind over just how ridiculous this non-issue is, let’s take a look at what the problem is. What group of B-list, no-named losers did Paul Feig cobble together for this terrible, sad knock-off again?

What? No. That must be some sort of mistake. People are actually getting upset about a movie starring Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones? I would understand the outrage I’m seeing all over social media if, say, the above picture contained four actresses who were clearly just pulled off of the street for this nostalgia-destroying, childhood-ruining misadventure in film. If I cared enough about Ghostbusters (Writer’s Note: not even a little sorry) in the first place, I would even join in the outrage. They’re only the leads in this movie. Four comedy superstars, who even on their own shine so brightly people can’t look directly at their work without having their retinas burned out. Surely there is some actual, reasonable excuse to be furious that Ghostbusters is returning with such drastic changes.

…

For the sake of misplaced kindness, I won’t link directly to any particular tweets. Let’s just say the level of wackadoo crazy surrounding this movie because it’s being made with women in the lead roles is a bit mind-blowing. And mind-numbing. To call it as it is: this is just a bunch of people clinging to the cinematic equivalent of their childhood blankies. Let’s consider a few key points here. First and foremost, this is its own, new, separate movie. It will undoubtedly have its own strong merits, as well as possible shortcomings (I make this statement with the understanding that no movie, no matter how good, is perfect). Based on the leading ladies alone, it’ll most probably be a strong title regardless of how the writing goes. That’s a statement based off of the talent that each one of these actresses has displayed in the past. Secondly, why is it so troubling that women are being cast as the leads in a new Ghostbusters? I may be a little fuzzy on the details, but I’m fairly certain the original Ghostbusters didn’t save the world from supernatural threats with their penises (a fact, I’m sure, everyone involved was grateful for, and I mean no disrespect towards Bill Murray there).

This is ultimately another issue of Hollywood needing a greater deal of diversity versus being too backwards to accept that old things can, and invariably will in the case of media, be used as the basis for new things. It happens. I, for one, am eager to see how the new Ghostbusters movie turns out. If nothing else, I think it’ll be a great source of delicious, angry tears from people set in their ways.

I imagine this could have gone on longer if I didn’t feel like someone were beating me over the head with a baseball bat made out of jackhammers.

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8 thoughts on “Lady Ghostbusters won’t actually ruin your childhood”

A modern day Ghostbusters with girls? I think it will work, but not on the same scale of popularity as the original. The guys in the first films had a real chemistry when they worked together, that made the film easy to enjoy.

I think a lot will come down to how well the writer(s) handle it. The casting is already solid, and the actresses have worked together quite well before. I’m not necessarily saying it’ll recapture the lightning of the original; we’ll have to wait and see there.

Largely, I find it tiresome that people believe that this can’t be as good because women are in the lead roles. Or that some people would go as far to say this is just another attempt by feminists to ruin blah blah whatever for men.

Oh I have nothing against female leads, I am just saying that there was a certain commeradery between the original actors/writers which came across on screen really well. Whether that can be replicated now is another thing.

I’m down with Melissa McCarthy and Leslie Jones in this film. They are perfect for the over-the-top spectacle and comedic tone of a Ghostbusters film. Kristen Wiig is funny and talented, but her brand of comedy might be a bit low key, so I’m not quite sold yet. Kate McKinnon I don’t know much about. Sandra Bullock would have been a good choice for the lead. Elizabeth Banks is good too. Rosario Dawson is actually pretty funny as well, especially when she is playing “audience surrogate” and being the only one who reacts normally to all the crazy shyte happening. She is quite charismatic.

You should know by now that your two cents holds a value of at least ten cents on Misadventures In Fiction. Unfortunately, it’s also in a far higher tax bracket. You owe me one million dollars.

I enjoyed Kristen Wiig in Bridesmaids, so I remain cautiously optimistic she will provide one hell of a performance. Time will tell, really, if these were good decisions or not for a cinematic undertaking of this magnitude.

Boiled down to its very core, I would like to see Hollywood finish up its weird love affair with remakes and reboots, but I can’t say I’ve not enjoyed some over the years. Except the new Godzilla. I hope someone buries that shit-sandwich in a ditch and covers it up with cement.